The Estonian unit of multinational ABB opened a new production facility in the town of Jüri near Tallinn on Thursday, which will allow the company to double its output of solar inverters.

The new plant cost two million euros to build.

“We are witnessing an ever increasing global demand for our central inverters,” ABB Group's global managing director for power conversion, Robert Itschner said. “To meet the demand, we decided to expand the Estonian factory and recently also opened a new factory in India.”

The new facility will manufacture solar inverters mainly of ABB’s PVS980 series with a staff of 80.

“Global demand for solar energy equipment is constantly growing, but it was no longer possible to increase production volumes on our existing production premises,” CEO of ABB Baltics, Bo Henriksson, said.

Operations of ABB’s Estonian unit are focused on the manufacturing and sale of energy technology, including wind and diesel generators, frequency changers, and renewable energy equipment. The unit, which employed 1,056 people on average last year, posted sales of €155m in 2015.

Following the local elections in October this year, Reform Party founder, former prime minister, EU commissioner, and presidential candidate Siim Kallas took on the job of municipal mayor of Viimsi, a community on the outskirts of Tallinn. In his interview with ERR's Toomas Sildam, Kallas talks about local government, his party, the EU presidency, and perspectives in Estonian politics.